Are You There Where You Always Wanted To Be?

by Mike Meier
(Washington, DC)

This is the introduction to our book:
Are You There Where You Always Wanted To Be?

See www.journeycalledlife.org

Human society has been around for tens of thousands of years: more than 1,000 generations of humans have walked the earth. Yet, it seems that each and all of us have to learn the most important lessons from scratch. Here is what I wish someone had told me when I was very young.

Foreword:
Welcome, Fellow Traveler on this journey called Life! Maybe the title of this book should be Are You On The Way To Where You Always Wanted To Be? When we think about where we are in Life, we all tend to focus on our current place as if it were to last forever. “I am in dire straits,” “I am on top of the world,” “We are at loggerheads.” Life, however, is a journey, and the only constant in Life is change. While my fundamental quest is to get to where I want to be, it is with the understanding that walking the path is more important than reaching the final destination.

Let us start with four premises that you already know deep inside. First, picture an hourglass. Time is slipping by, like the sand in an hourglass. You have noticed that you need to do something before it’s all over, right? This is a lesson you should have learned by now. You have this book in your hand because you are a seeker.

Here is the second premise. Human society has been around for tens of thousands of years. More than 1,000 generations of humans have walked the earth. Yet, it seems that each and all of us have to learn the most important lessons from scratch.

Here is the third premise. About 110 billion humans have existed throughout history. Of those, very few have left traces of their existence, apart from a few bones maybe. And, sadly, there are humans who have left a negative legacy. Names like Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin, and Pol Pot come to mind. Let’s not even name any of the serial killers or psychopaths who wreaked havoc throughout history and are unfortunately remembered today.

Yet, there were some that have lived on through the ages, even though we may not always know their names. There is the Mitochondrial Eve, a female who lived between 234,000 and 82,000 years ago somewhere in East Africa. She is the “matrilineal most recent common ancestor” (mtMRCA) for all living humans. She is the mother of us all and thus a huge genetic success. Some person in ancient Egypt must have thought that it would be a great idea to build a gigantic tomb in the form of a pyramid, thus spawning creativity and engineering genius to build it. The words of a preacher called Jesus Christ have survived for 2,000 years. Around the year 1200, Genghis Khan conquered a large part of Central Asia and China. By the way, he left quite a number of children. One genetic study, albeit without the benefit of his actual DNA, calculated that about 16 million of Genghis Khan’s descendants are alive today. The music of one Johann Sebastian Bach has delighted listeners for hundreds of years and will likely continue to do so for as long as humans exist.

Thus, the fourth premise is that even one small being among the 110 billion that have ever lived can make a positive difference in the world.

You are a seeker and you seek to get where you want to be. Here is how your journey will go if you are unprepared. You follow the yellow brick road for 100 miles until it ends at the river. There you yell three times “ho, ho, ho!” at the Ferryman, then pay him a silver dollar to take you to the other side. A deep, dark forest awaits you where you must slay the dragon that is guarding the entrance. You will find neither water nor food during your walk through the deep, dark forest, and once you reach the end of it, you must climb up a misty mountain to get to the enchanted castle. Breathlessly you enter, run up the stairs of the highest tower, push open the heavy oak door, and there she is on the chaise longue, the most beautiful princess in the whole universe – Sleeping Beauty. You bend down to kiss her lips. She opens her eyes and looks at you lovingly with her bright blue eyes, as blue as the Mediterranean Sea. Her long black hair falls temptingly over shoulders left bare by her strapless dress, and she purrs: “Bienvenidos, Caballero. Te estuve esperando por cien años. Hazme el amor como si fuera la primera vez.” No English subtitles here. This is real Life, not a movie. What? You gotta be kiddin’! She doesn’t speak English. She, too, is taken aback by your inability to communicate in Spanish, but since she hasn’t been kissed in a 100 years, she is trying hard to work things out. In the meantime, the entire castle has come to life. She takes you downstairs to the courtyard where the stablehands have saddled two beautiful stallions, the white one for the Princess and the black one for you.

Unfortunately, you have never been on a horse before. The helpful stablehands eventually lift you onto the horse and your pants rip, revealing your scrawny legs and the worn-out underwear you bought on sale at K-Mart. You fall off the horse before you’re even out the gate. Fortunately, the friendly stablehands get you back on the horse in no time. After falling off the horse several more times, you eventually make it to the destination, the local salsa dance club. Now you remember that you do not know how to dance, especially not salsa. The Princess has had enough of you and dumps you for the fabulous-looking kid with the slicked-back hair. Suddenly, as the kid takes her hand and draws the Princess onto the dance floor, you feel the rage of years past coming up from the stomach, and all the lost opportunities pass rapidly before your eyes. Not Again. No way, José! You grab the kid’s arm. Unfortunately, the kid knows karate, which you realize when you hit the dirt right outside the salsa dance club. Without further ado, you decide that this place is not for you, and start your long trek back to your sofa, your TV remote control, and your frozen dinners in the fridge.

Stay with me. I don’t want that to happen to you. I will make sure your trip to the Promised Land is the greatest you have ever taken. I will tell you to learn Spanish before you go, how to kiss the Princess’ lips, how to ride a horse, and how to have her succumb in your arms on the dance floor. And yes, you will know self-defense in case that kid tries to pick her up. If you never actually set foot on the Promised Land, you will at least, just like Moses, catch a glimpse of it and make the journey.

This book summarizes my quest and what I have found along the way. No, “seek first to understand, then to be understood” (or some other gobbledygook) will certainly not make you friends, will not find your soulmate, and will not get you love. Playing guitar or being a stand-up comedian probably will. The reason is simple, as you will find out. If you have game, people (and particularly members of the opposite sex) will pay attention to you. They will be favorably inclined. In fact, they will be in positive anticipation, “at their best.” That is the time when you want to interact with other people.

I am not telling you that there is just one way to get to the Promised Land, and chances are you are very different from me. I look at it this way. I happen to practice karate, but I have trained in other martial arts in the past. At this point in my Life, I find that karate is the best martial art for me. However, I respect all other martial arts equally. When you need to defend yourself and know any martial art, you will probably do better than someone who doesn’t, regardless of what martial art you know, be it aikido, judo or kung-fu. Whatever you make of this book, I sincerely hope it gives you something that works for you.

There are certain themes that you will encounter over and over in this book. Among them: Getting more out of Life depends on your mindset. Love and affection is good; get it whenever and wherever you can. But to do that you need to be in great physical shape. A personal trainer and martial arts help greatly in this regard. To increase the pool of copulation partners, I recommend developing your artistic streak, such as playing music or practicing stand-up comedy. No, you are not too old to start. Knowing foreign languages greatly increases your circle of friends. I know, I am asking you to do actual work, but if you want someone to guide your footsteps, you must be willing to move your feet.

Because I am telling you what I have found during my own quest, forgive me for hiding behind my lawyer’s skirt. I also needed him to put everything on paper, he is a much better writer than I am. All events and adventures described herein are true, but I have changed places, names, and dates to protect identities. Otherwise I (and many others) would be run out of town by peasants with torches and pitchforks.

Anonymous, in an anonymous place, February 2010

Want More? Go to www.journeycalledlife.org